By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were up on Friday morning, with U.S. futures also climbing higher as a measure of calm returned to markets. However, concerns of an economic slowdown and China’s ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks could lead to more volatility.

Japan’s was up 0.84% by 10:11 PM ET (2:11 AM GMT). In April 2022 the rate of growth was 0.4% per month. The total grew 2.1% in April 2022 and 2.5% annually.

South Korea’s rose 1.46% and in Australia, the rose 0.94%.

Hong Kong’s jumped 1.51%.

China’s was up 0.70% and the rose 1.20%. The held the (LPR) at 3.7%, while cutting the five-year LPR to 4.45% from the previous month’s 4.6%.

On Thursday, regional shares saw modest gains despite slight losses by their U.S. counterparts. However, European contracts made some small gains. Most sovereign bonds rallied, with the dollar at 2.85%. This is the largest single-day fall since 2020.

A Bloomberg survey found that China’s COVID-19 lockdowns are still affecting economic growth. Shanghai discovered three COVID-19-related cases that were not under quarantine. This raises concerns about the authorities’ willingness to lift a lockdown. It fell.

Due to high inflation, concerns over an impending economic downturn remain. This is partly due to U.S. Federal Reserve increasing interest rates. The global shares have now experienced a seventh week of historic declines.

Equities were having a “rough” patch, according to Kansas City Fed President Esther George, but she did nothing to soften the U.S. central bank’s hawkish tone.

“Inflationary pressures look very much persistent at the moment,” BNY Mellon (NYSE:) Investment Management senior market strategist Lale Akoner told Bloomberg.

“The biggest risk right now is developed-market central banks might trigger a recession. We are increasingly suspecting that they made a policy mistake.”

Investors also digested a higher-than-expected number of weekly , which stood at 218,000 according to Thursday’s data. The for May 2022 was 2.6, much lower than the 16 predicted in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the previous month’s 17.6 figure.

Elsewhere, the war in Ukraine, perpetrated by Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, continues. The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed an aid package totaling more than $40 billion for Ukraine, with the bill now on President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

China, however, is looking to replenish its crude oil reserves with Russian oil. This could be a sign of China’s desire to strengthen its energy relations with Russia, as the European Union strives to impose sanctions against Russian imports to end the conflict.

Due to the month-end expiration options for equities or exchange-traded fund options, investors in the U.S. should expect more volatility.